


Thoughts and Feelings

by monsterslut13



Series: The Raven and the Hawk [1]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Eivor is a bull in an antique store, Eivor is male, Feelings, M/M, Mentions of Randvi, Mentions of Sex, Pre-Relationship, Relationship Advice, Take the leap Eivor, The idiot is in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 23:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30113814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monsterslut13/pseuds/monsterslut13
Summary: Eivor’s never been one for secrets and silence, he’s loud, rambunctious and often considered downright intense when it boils right down to it. He’s never one to hesitate and is always first in a fight, this is new, he’s never felt this before but he’d never dare say anything to anyone at the settlement in case they laughed at him. Eivor needs to ask, he needs to know, he wants to be certain before he does anything to make a fool of himself.Who better than to ask about love than two of Lunden’s most trustworthy protectors?
Relationships: Eivor/Hytham, Erke Bodilsson/Stowe
Series: The Raven and the Hawk [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2215995
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Thoughts and Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Well, what's this, a new fandom I've chosen to write about? 
> 
> I literally have a hundred and twelve hours currently clocked up on AC Valhalla and I'm angry that I can't romance Hytham just as angry as I am that I can't romance Ivarr or Vili or Brasidas in Odyssey, so naturally I decided to fix it. Thank you Ubisoft. This is rare pair hell and I need more than just a few pages of fics to go through _wildly sobbing_
> 
> I read through it looking for mistakes but my eyes are all weird and I'm sick so happy reading ya'll

He'd arrived in Lunden when the sky was ablaze with the setting sun. Startling shades of pink and orange turned the city into a sight to behold in the early evening. The last time Eivor had graced the streets of Lunden was to hunt down the Order at the behest of the settlements' very own Hidden Ones but this wasn't a visit for business...merely curiosity. Eivor wasn't exactly one for secrets or sneaking around but his visit didn't require loud announcements to declare that he was here. 

The business Eivor was sent to take care of in East Anglia had been taken care of. Oswald and Valdis had been wed, another alliance to the Raven Clan was secured and the festivities lasted for days. Eivor could have stayed for longer but he didn't because he had his own affairs to tend to. Randvi wouldn't notice him gone an extra few days and if she did, well that was because of his own private problems. It had nothing to do with her, Eivor wanted answers, not Randvi. 

His entry into the city hadn’t gone unnoticed. The guards with whom Eivor was friendly with greeted him with waves and suggestions of drink or two, perhaps a game or two of orlog, he brushed them off with empty promises to catch up with them later. The drengr only stopped to ask another guard if he knew where Stowe and Erke were at this hour, tossing the man a few coins for his answer and a modicum of silence to forget he was ever here. It was almost like he was a child again, on some quest to find the secret of the Gods...well he was, wasn’t he? Eivor wanted to know, he  _ needed _ to know and he wanted to be certain before he went and made a fool out of himself. Things like these are delicate and Eivor Wolf-Kissed is anything but delicate. 

The reeves of Lunden had retired for the evening and according to his well-paid friend, Stowe and Erke were at a nearby inn having a few drinks after a long day. Eivor understood that, a drink and something to eat sounded better than Valhalla at this point, he could do with some comforts to calm the difficult thoughts in his mind. How it had come to this point wasn’t something he’d kept track of, no, it snuck on him and hit him in the back of his head with the harshness of a good shield bash. 

When he eventually found the inn Eivor was almost tempted to just ask for a room for the night and be done with it. The voice in the back of his head that wasn’t Odin urged him forward and into the bustling warmth of a busy inn. Blue eyes scanned those who had gathered and eventually Eivor found who he was looking for tucked away in a corner with ale and food between them. “Is there room for one more?” he found himself saying, coming to a stop at the end of the table and clearly interrupting a private moment between the two of them. Eivor almost wanted to apologise but it wasn’t in his nature to do so. 

Erke’s grin brushed aside any notion of annoyance on Eivor’s part, the Dane rose to his feet and held his arm out to greet the taller man. “Eivor! What a surprise to see you here in Lunden, we didn’t know you were coming. Take a seat.” 

Eivor removed his shield from his back and sat it behind him against the wall, sliding into a chair with a groan, he wasn’t seventeen winters anymore that’s for sure. “Forgive me for the interruption, I was on my way back from East Anglia and desired a bed that wasn’t the ground.”  _ Keep telling yourself that Eivor, _ he scolded himself. 

Both men glanced at each other and as Erke swallowed down his ale, Stow met Eivor’s eyes. “Lunden is a little out of the way to return back to Ravensthorpe friend, is something on your mind?” In the months he’d known the Norse, Stowe had observed that Eivor wasn’t the kind to keep what was on his mind silent. He spoke it and spoke it well with his silver tongue but it didn’t mean he’d be any less loyal to those he called friend or ally.

“Perhaps Eivor needs a pint or two in him before he spills the secrets of hel to us, hey?” Erke suggested, nudging the blonde with his elbow. He held his hand up and called for more food and drink, returning to his own meal. “It’s been one bitch of a day Eivor, some bandits have taken residence beneath the city in the old tunnels, maybe before you leave you’d lend a friend a hand to wet his blade?”

Eivor chuckled, “don’t sweeten your words Erke, I’ll help.” The coin found in an underground lair was always worth it when it came to helping out a friend, especially when it was bandits they were clearing out. He took the ale from the barkeep and drained half of it before he could dig into his food, fresh stew with day-old bread wasn’t bad, it certainly wasn’t dried meat and trail rations. Least it saved hunting out in the cooler nights on his way back to the settlement.  _ On his way back to the problems he’d left behind.  _ “Tell me, how are things going now that the Order is out of the city?”

It was nice to sit there and listen to the pair talk, they bounced off each other and always seemed to have some wild story of a drunk here or a brawl there. Erke had an interesting tale that ended up with Stowe waist deep in the river after chasing a cat of all things to stop a little girl from crying. Eivor was almost in tears by the time the Dane gave a wild account, improved with large hand gestures and sounds to match. By the time he was done Eivor had two bowls of soup in his belly and a few cups of ale to make him warm enough to stave the autumn chill. 

“So tell us what brings you to Lunden friend.” Stowe looked at Eivor as though he was trying to figure out the secrets of the world, as if figuring out the complex man would tell him everything he needed to know. “East Anglia is out of your way by a couple days at least if you were looking at heading straight back home to your people.” 

A sigh escaped Eivor and he sat his ale on the table, “I did have a question for you, it’s important.” 

Both Stowe and Erke stared at each other over the table and this time the Dane sat his ale down as well. “And what kind of question do you have for us?” 

Eivor fought down the desire to just up and leave instead of dealing with this, but he was a drengr, a warrior who had fought and bled for everything he had in his life. “It’s...of a delicate nature and I ask you not to repeat anything that I’m about to tell you.”

“You know we won’t Eivor,” Stowe responded gently. He would have to be blind not to see that something was troubling their friend, when they met him all those months ago Eivor was open with what was troubling him. He spoke about his brother and the clan and how they were seeking alliances to strengthen themselves, he wore his heart out in the open and never backed down even if the challenge seemed too great. Eivor was a force to be reckoned with on a good day and an army all on his own. 

Erke nodded his agreement, “tell us what’s troubling you friend.”

He sighed, “how did you know?” he asked. Eivor stared into his cup with a deep sigh, his shoulders slumping forward with the rest of him. “How did you know that you two had feelings for each other? How did you know to act upon it without making a fool of yourself?”

Now  _ that _ wasn’t something they were expecting to hear from the Norseman. Erke let out to breath he didn’t know he was holding and found himself rubbing the back of his head. “So you’re in love?” He didn’t feel like this was something to tease Eivor about since he seemed so unsure about himself and obviously about what he was feeling. “Who is it, may I ask?” Or was it a secret. 

“His name is Hytham,” Eivor answered. The first time he’d met Basim and Hytham in Fornburg after they disembarked Siguard’s longship he gave them nothing but mistrust. Here were two people who had been with his brother and their motivations were unknown to him, of course through them he learned about the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients that had their silent war in the background of history. Eivor didn’t know what to make of it only that Kjotve was one of them and that killing him had started him down a path he wasn’t sure he could follow. The drengr was loud and vibrant, he killed violently and it was always bloody, Eivor wasn’t built for silence and sneaking around, killing with a hidden blade that was supposed to stay hidden. 

He found himself looking at the blade on his wrist, vibrant and golden and out there for the whole world to see. Hytham and Eivor were the exact opposite of each other but the more time he spent with the assassin, the more he found himself conflicted with feelings he was utterly unsure how to confront. “I’ve been helping him clear out the order behind many of the kings and generals in England, I bring him back things from my travels, old texts, artefacts. We talk and trade stories of our adventures and I find myself thinking about him when he is not around. Often when I return he’s the first place I go before reporting to Randvi.” Eivor wanted to give Hytham the thing’s he’d found and see how his eyes lit up even if his face stayed as closed off as it always did. 

It wasn’t just that though, he would often find himself walking through a town or a city and finding things with the marketplace that he thought Hytham would like. Along with scrolls and artefacts found in long forgotten tombs or hidden fortresses, Eivor had brought back quills and new weapons, ones he thought that his friend would like. Several times he’d even brought back a cloak or two in order to help Hytham with the English winters. Of course they weren’t by any stretch of the imagination like the winters back home but at the same time it was nothing like the heated lands from which Hytham came from. 

Stowe cocked an eyebrow, “you mean to ask how did Erke and I find each other?”

“It doesn’t need to be as poetic as that Stowe,” Eivor pointed out. “But yes, I’d like to know, I don’t wish to make a fool of myself with someone I consider a friend. I don’t want to lose Hytham’s friendship.” He could handle staying friends with the assassin as long as it didn’t mean losing him altogether.

“Do you know if he feels the same?” Erke asked. 

“No, I don’t,” Eivor confessed. “But it’s small things Erke, when we’re reading maps or working on texts it’s almost like he’s looking for a reason to be close to me. There’s moments, whenI’m at a feast our eyes meet, but he looks away too quickly…I want to have his eyes on me.” When they’d dock and Eivor would always see Hytham before the assassin disappeared back back into the bureau, he wasn’t sure how the assassin felt about him but part of this side venture was to try and figure out what to do with these confusing feelings inside him. “I like to think he enjoys my company, we can talk for hours, the moon can be high in the sky and he’ll always be eager to hear more. At first I thought it might have been an effort to learn more about our ways but these tales always ended up with some sort of silly story from my younger years.” 

Truthfully Eivor felt stupid sitting here second guessing everything. This wasn’t so much a discussion with two people who had once been in the same place as him, this was a study of his character and of his feelings. He wasn’t doing much in the way of listening to anyone but his own mind. 

“What’s the thing called where you jump from the highest peak of the city?” Erke suddenly asked. He’d seen their friend do that several times during his first visit to Lunden to scout the enemy or find clear paths. 

“The Leap of Faith?” Eivor asked. 

Erke nodded. “Yes, that. Perhaps you should look at taking a leap and tell this Hytham how you feel. Do you hesitate because he is a man?” He could remember the dance between him and Stowe leading up to the months where they finally admitted their feelings to each other. 

“No!” Eivor objected. He’d been with men before, he’d taken them as well as been taken by them, it wasn’t strange for him to be in a relationship with a man, this was a Saxon thing. “I’ve been with men before, that’s not the strange thing...it’s the feelings. I have no desire to make a fool out of myself so that everyone can laugh at me.” 

“Sometimes when it comes to the people that we love we can do nothing but make fools out of ourselves,” Stowe explained. “There’s only two ways you can go about this Eivor; you can confront how you feel and tell Hytham or you can ignore how you feel and let this go. There’s only two ways about it Eivor and I don’t take you for the kind of man who lets something get in his way.” 

Stowe was right, he wasn’t the kind of man who let anything get in his way, Eivor took what he wanted even if it required blood to do so. He picked up his ale and drained the rest of the cup so he could slam it upside down on the table. “When I first met Hytham I was openly mistrustful, I worked hard for this friendship and I don’t want to ruin it Stowe.” 

“Take a leap,” Erke suggested again. “Tell him how you feel or don’t Eivor, that’s all you can do. But if you want to know how he feels, tell him. Nobody else can do it for you and it’ll do better than to come from a letter. Perhaps your confession can come with a gift?” the Dane suggested. “What does he like?” 

Eivor sat back, his fingers playing with the straps of leather on his vambrace, “books, texts, scrolls. Hytham’s always complaining that there’s not enough for him to read.” He found himself thinking back to the flooded bureau’s and the underground rivers he’d swum with ancient scrolls tucked in armour hoping that they didn’t get ruined. Eivor smiled at the thought of handing those fragile papers back to Hytham and suddenly he got an idea that drew him to his feet. “I’ll see you both in the morning,” he declared, picking his shield up off the ground. 

“Where are you going?” Stowe called out after him. 

Eivor didn’t answer but he did have a singular goal in mind and that started with finding the former Lunden bureau of the Hidden Ones. 

**Author's Note:**

> Definitely gonna make this a series...I need to expand my fandom listing :D


End file.
